Radiator flush



as; A r. 9, 1940 PATENT orrica RADIATOR FLUSH Bani Victor Keyscr, In, New York, N. Y., wignor to Socony-Vacuum Oil Comp ny, Incorporated, New York, N. Y., a corporation of New York Serial No. 45,099

No Drawing. Application October 15, 1935,

3 Claims. (Cl. 87-5) This invention relates to a novel composition for use in cleaning the radiator-and other parts of the cooling system of an internal-combustion engine.

5 In such cooling systems a solid sediment or incrustation gradually collects, consisting of iron rust, dirt, mineral matter from the water, etc., usually mingled with some oil or grease from the circulating pump. It is well known that such deposits can be effectively removed by subjecting them to the solvent and penetrating action of some oily material containing or consisting of saponifiable oil or free fatty acid, and then subjecting the mixture of solids and oil to the action of an alkaline solution by which the oil or, the fatty acid is saponified, with the result of disintegrating the mass and bringing its constituents into a state of emulsion and suspension in which they can be flushed away. In order to bring the solvent oily material into contact with the deposits throughout the cooling system, without the necessity of using it in the great volume necessary to fill the system, the oil has heretofore been introduced in a small quantity while the system'is substantially full of water, and the circulation of the water, while the engine is running, has been utilized to carry the oil throughout the system. For success in this mode of operation, it is necessary that the constituents of the oily mixture be so selected and proportioned that the mixture has very nearly the same specific gravity as water, at the temperature of use. It has also been necessary, as the method has heretofore been practised, to add the alkali to the cooling water as a second and distinct operation, after sufficient time has been allowed for the penetrating action of the .011.

One object of the, present invention is to produce a composition, for the purpose in ques-' tion, in which all of the necessary ingredients and reagents are contained so that they may be introduced in the cooling water as a single operation, and another object is the production of a composition in which the solvent oily material is originally held in emulsion with a water solution, so that, when introduced into the cooling water, the oily material is quickly disseminated therein.

I have discovered that the foregoing objects may be attained by combining the following elements:

1. Unsaponifiable oily-material which has the desired solvent and penetrating action.

- 2. Water.

3. An emulsifying agent which is soluble in the oil, and thus permits the production of a stable water-in-oil emulsion.

4. A reagent which, at normal atmospheric temperature, is inert towards the other components, but which reacts, at the elevated teml perature of, the cooling water after the engine has been running for some time, to reverse the emulsion and produce. an oil-in-water emulsion.

Various oils and organic solvents, insoluble in water, are known to have the required penetrat- 10 ing and solvent action. Light petroleum distillates, such as kerosene may be used, or coaltar solvents, also chlorinated hydrocarbons such as trichlorethylene, tetrachlorethylene, orthodichlor benzene and chlorinated di-phenol. These 16 solvents may be used alone or in any combinations consistently with the described principle of operation, as they are not required to enter into chemical reaction with the other ingredients.

The emulsifying agents which have been found 20 suitable are compounds which are soluble in oil but not in water, but which react slowly with alkali to form mono-valent metal soaps. Among such compounds are diglycol oleate, and the soaps formed by the fatty acids with the heavy 335 metals. The reagent by which the emulsion is reversed may be any'weak alkali, such as borax or sodium silicate, which is inert to the emulsifying agent at ordinary atmospheric temperatures,

but which will react slowly, at the higher temperatures attained in thev cooling water when the engine is running, with the result of decomposing the fatty-acid compound and forming a water soluble soap.

The proportions in which the several components are used are not critical'i'n any case, al-

" though changes in proportion will afiect the ef- Parts by weight Kerosene, domestic water-white 25 5o Or'thodichlorbenzene 25 Diglycol oleate 5 Water 40 The borax is dissolved in the water and the other ingredients are dissolved in the kerosene, and the two solutions are then emulsified together, making a stable emulsion.

When the cleaning composition is to be used, it is added to the water in the cooling system 02 an engine, and the engine is set in operation so that the water, by its circulation, carries the emulsion to all parts of the system. While the water is still cool the oily ingredients, together with the diglycol oleate dissolved in them, penetrate the solid deposits in the system, and dissolve or soften any grease contained in the de posits. When the water is sumciently heated, by the continued operation of the engine, the bores reacts with the diglycol oleate to produce a watersoluble soap, with the result of disintegrating the deposits and producing an oil-in-Wateremulsion. The cooling water and the emulsified materials are then drained from the system, and any re-= maining solids, having been loosened and disintegrated, may be flushed from the system with additional water.

.solvent material and selected from the class consisting of diglycol oleate and the soaps formed by the heavy metals with fatty acids, and an alkali selected from the class consisting of borax and sodium silicate.

PAUL V. KEYSER, Jn. 

